The overcast skies above Parc André Citroën in Paris early yesterday afternoon shrouded Kim Jones’ latest offering for the house of Vuitton in a sobering dank grey. When a melancholic deconstructed version of Massive Attack’s Unfinished Sympathy then started playing one couldn’t help but recall the harrowing events that were unfolding in the city only two weeks ago to this very day. But for now, just as fashion should, things moved ahead swiftly and suavely and all peace was restored thanks to Jones’ expert eye for menswear.
Being such a French institution, Vuitton kept their end up remarkably and as the soundtrack started to pulse with a more catwalk-cliché beat, look after look could do no wrong. Duffle style coats were made for the weather conditions outside but jazzed up in a melange of graphic bohemian prints and incorporated into a number of other street-wear ensembles.
Jones was in fact drawing from the archive of prolific pioneer of British beatnik fashion of the eighties Christopher Nemeth, the harbinger of deconstruction in the UK. Thus, a majority of AW15 had a mix’n’match quality that was strewn with mini Vuitton holdalls and wasn’t shy on the multiple fabrics front.
The graphic prints and uniquely Nemeth-esque aesthetic will become characteristic for Vuitton this season, just as characteristic as the safari-luxe version last time around, and next to that, thanks to the top tactile techniques, Jones has bagged another auspicious A/W.
by Liam Feltham
Images courtesy of Style.com